Somerset "L"s - Langford, Langport, Long Ashton

Continuing with the alphabetical scheme, the Airgraph below was sent from Langford to the Pioneer Corps, C.M.F. [Central Mediterranean Force] in November 1943.

Moving a bit earlier, the entire below is from Langport to Ilminster and is dated February 1777 - this extends the known usage of the "LANGPORT" handstamp by a year.

Below is a postcard from Chicago to Long Ashton, with a receiving handstamp dated 27th July 1928.  I'm not sure why it would have a receiving mark ?

 

UDCs #2 - Burnham, Cheddar, Churchill (& Langford & Street), Upper Clevedon

Continuing with UDCs, here is an example of the "BURNHAM-SOMST" UDC from November 1844.

This next sheet has three examples of Cheddar UDCs, from August & October 1848 and March 1849. The earliest Cheddar UDC was issued in December 1847, with later ones issued in March and April 1851.

... and here is a postcard from the period illustrating Cheddar.

This cover from March 1852 has three UDCs for the price of one, with UDCs from Churchill in blue, Langford in black and Street also in black, being the earliest recorded blue Churchill UDC and black Langford UDC.

This entire has a nice example of the Upper Clevedon UDC from the middle of June 1843 - not quite the earliest known which is from 1st June.

UDCs - Hinton Charterhouse, Kilmersdon, Langford

This first sheet has a normal Charterhouse-Hinton UDC from May 1856.  The UDC was issued under Chippenham but is used here under Bath.

The late format Hinton-Charterhouse UDC below is from January 1859.

The Kilmersdon UDC was issued under Frome, but had transferred to Bath by the time of this cover, September 1859.

The late-type Langford UDC below in blue is currently the latest known example, from July 1859.

Barred Numeral Cancels - Langford, Nailsea, Paulton

Langford, just over 13 miles SW of Bristol, was in the Bristol Fifth Clause Post from 1805 and then in the Penny Post from 1826.  It became an RSO in 1862 and was assigned post office number B24.

Nailsea, 10 miles WSW of Bristol, was made an RSO in 1860 and was issued with post office number B20.  The sheet below shows an example of the B20 3HOS cancel on a stamp as well as the B20 3VOS on a postcard.

Paulton, 13 miles SSE of Bristol, was in the Bath Peny Post from 1829 before coming under Bristol by 1841.  It was issued with post office number 999 in 1878.  Unfortunately I do not have an example on cover, just one on stamp.

Bristol Penny Post - Wrington & Langford

Wrington was Receiving House No.25, with a boxed handstamp from 1827 to 1832 and unboxed handstamps thereafter.  The first entire below has the small framed "BRISTOL / PY POST / date" handstamp that was only in use from July 1829 to January 1830.

 

 

Langford was Receiving House No.26, with a boxed handstamp from 1826 to 1835 and then an unboxed handstamp from 1837 to 1841.  There is also a more ornate unboxed handstamps that was in use from 1847 to 1850.

 

 

 

Late period small 19mm single ring UDCs

From the middle of 1857 the format of the UDCs changed to a smaller 19mm format, firstly with just a single arc, and then to a single ring with the place name either around the perimeter or across the diameter depending on the length of the place name (8 letters and above went around the perimeter).

I only have two examples from this period, of the first, single-arc format.

Winsford's UDC was not registered in the Steel Impression Books.  Winsford came under Tiverton in Devon at that time.  Its UDC is known used in blue from November 1857 to March 1858.  The example below is in black from November 1857, a few days earlier than the previously known examples in blue.

Langford's UDC was registered on 25th February 1858 and is known used between September 1858 and March 1859.  The example below is in blue from March 1859.

The item above is from the period just before Railway Sub Offices were introduced, where because mail went via the railway a sub-office was not tied to a specific post town for accounting purposes.  Such an office received its mail from a Travelling Post Office (TPO) on the railway, but didn't have to be on the railway.  Langford became an RSO in December 1859.

More main period sans-serif 25mm UDCs under Bristol

A few more main period UDCs from offices under Bristol:

Churchill's UDC was issued on 14th May 1845, and is known used in black (June 1845 to January 1850) and in blue from March 1852 to July 1859.  The example below is in blue from March 1859.

Langford's main period UDC was issued on 2nd December 1851 and is known used from March 1852 to February 1857.  The example below is from July 1855.

West Town had the first main period UDC, issued on 10th July 1844.  It is known used in black from December 1844 to September 1848 and also in blue between December 1853 and August 1857.  The example in black below is from April 1846.

Bristol Penny Posts (continued)

Here are the remainder of my very small stock of Bristol Penny Post Receiving Houses.  First Chew Magna with an unboxed "No.17":

Then Wrington with an unboxed "No.25" handstamp:

And finally Langford with a boxed "No.26" and an unboxed handstamp: